Alderman Fred C. Davis
Alderman Fred C. Davis, a Chicago politician whose district includes the area where the Evanses and Willona Woods live, is a recurring character who appears in a total of seven episodes of Good Times. The part of Alderman Davis is played in those episodes by Albert Reed, Jr. About Alderman Davis Alderman Davis has a slightly shady disposition in dealing with his constituents, namely the Evanses, whom he usually refers to as "his favorite constituents" and family in the projects. The Evanses, namely Florida and James, despise his disposition (although James supported him in the episode "The Politicians in Season 3), whic h is similar to the perceived one of President Richard M. Nixon, he would state in a speech "I am not a crook." They, along with Willona, who so unendearingly refers to him as "Chrome Dome" generally distrust his motives in visiting them from time to time, when he asks for favors from them, usually in trying to gain more constituents and supporters to his re-election campagins. Initally, in the alderman's first appearance in the episode "The Politicians" in Season 3, James, who plans to vote for Davis in an upcoming election is at odds with Florida, who supports a brash young politician named Jimmy Pearson (Stanley Bennett Clay), who's running against Alderman Davis in the election, as he again, as always, tries to get the support of the family for the election. While Davis avoids getting into a debate over the issues, he's more than eager to "get down" and dirty, resorting to trying to get Pearson into playing the "dozens", as he rhymes, "You are real smart dude, with real smart words you like to strut, but when it comes to politics, you don't know your head from your butt!" Florida, in defense of Pearson, is more than willing to engage Davis in the dozens, as she counters "You stand there and say, you're a man of the people, but I say, you steal everything, including the church and the people!" He frequently relies on the support of the Evans family ("his favorite project family") for reelection or support and resorts to threats of eviction to secure their support. In the Season 4 episode "Evans Versus Davis", he threatens the Evanses with an eviction notice via Bookman in trying to get J.J. to say good words about him in a speech at his campaign rally, only to have J.J., who could'nt go through with whitewashing Davis's image, reveals his real feelings about Davis; when it looks as if his image is tarnished, and is about to make good on his eviction threat, the constituents at the rally takes it as a practical joke, and laughs at it, as it helps the aldeman's image, instead of tarnishing it before the news reporters, as he makes an about face, calling the Evanses "his favorite family"! In a running joke, Alderman Davis frequently forgets Willona's name and calls her another similar sounding name that began with a "W" (such as Wilhemina, Winnifrieda, Winsomnium, Wyomia and even Waldorf-Astoria and even then names such as "Petronia" and "Philomena". At one time he gets her first name right but her last name wrong – Willona Weeds), thus earning him her everlasting ire as well as the nickname "Baldy". Category:Characters Category:Notable characters Category:Recurring characters